Stuffed Mini Peppers with Fresh Cucumber and Tomato Salsa

When a child colors a picture, a rainbow often appears next to the golden sun that shines down upon a grassy field filled with flowers. Since colors are so inciting to little ones in their creative worlds, why not incorporate color into their meal time as well? Here is a simple and colorful side dish that small hands can create and manage easily. There were only a few pepper halves left after dinner, so I saved them for my salad for the next day.

• 8-10 mini peppers
• 1/2 cup cucumber, diced
• 1/2 cup tomatoes, diced
• 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
• light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano or parsley

Cut tops off peppers, slice in half, and remove ribs and seeds. In a bowl, combine the remaining ingredients and stir. Scoop some of the salsa into each pepper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

The kids helped with this, so the “stuffing” of the peppers soon became “topping” the peppers!